Letting agents are more successful at keeping rental properties occupied than individual landlords, according to an analysis of deposits from The Deposit Protection Service (The DPS).

Lettings agents ensure that the void period on a property is kept to within two weeks on 63 per cent of properties compared to only 38 per cent for those marketed by landlords directly. The DPS has assessed the void periods - time when a property is empty of rent-paying tenants - from across 597,753 deposits it holds on rentals in the UK.

The exact cost to landlords of rental voids is not recorded, but online letting agent Upad.co.uk calculates that more than £3bn is lost each year. The figures also point to huge regional differences throughout the country - in one district two thirds of available rental properties were empty for more than three months. Two of the ten worst areas for empty properties were in Lancashire. However the South was also badly hit, with areas in Surrey, Essex and Hampshire amongst the worst. In some areas 50 per cent of rental properties have been empty for more than three months.

Kevin Firth (pictured), Director of The DPS, said, "Many landlords market their properties very effectively but the evidence we have compiled in the past two years demonstrates clearly that there is more they can learn to try to decrease void periods. (C) Propertydrum